Interesting. I do agree some powers need to be weapon, or at least weapon group, specific. I've always had a problem with the parcel system for treasure as it seems to make it more work for the DM to figure out what the players want and place it there. It also makes it harder on players who use rituals or upgrade items frequently, as many have shown the math for it actually makes the characters weaker due to loosing something like 15% of their wealth.
Gold seems like fluff to me. When all you really need from the items are +X for your level and +Xd6 for your critical hits, plus a random daily- or encounter- utility power that you can't get from your class or a feat -- the parcel system gives you pretty much what you need. :/
As long as you're fighting enemies +/- your level (one or two levels in either direction), there's little need for anything beside your powers and the local item bonuses. Hell, you can cut items out entirely and go with inherent bonuses as an option in the character builder (forget which DMG it was in). Sure, you miss out on random utility power X, but it works if you don't want to sort through a bunch of crap magic items.
Of course, this nearly all depends on your party having a fairly even mix of character types, reasonably competent tactics, and a DM who isn't out to get you. The other players in the game I'm in are semi-competent, but some
refuse to read the fucking rules, and we still get through just fine. Our party has fluctuated a little bit, but we've nearly always had at least 2 strikers and 1 controller.
We're now at 4 strikers and 2 controllers, and I love to think about how much better we'd do if we had on genuine leader or defender in the party. Just. One. From the various groups I've seen in play, most people want to play strikers. Almost across the board. They're almost all Rangers and Rogues. The one other guy I saw trying out a wizard got pissed that he didn't do enough damage and switched to Sorcerer. I don't see many people play other classes, even Fighter. :/
The Warden gives out so many temporary hit points, it's a crazy-awesome defender/leader hybrid. You could have one of those teamed up with almost anything else and they'd never die. The dwarven Paladin was obviously intended to be immortal, because he gets ridiculously high hit points, healing surges, and assuming the normal 4-6 round combat, can heal every round if he needs to. *shakes head*
My wizard/cleric generally uses one healing power per combat, on one person to prevent them from dropping unconscious. We rarely see much healing in combat -- mostly during short rests between encounters.